Wow...apologies for the slacking off in blogging (I know you have been sitting on the edge of you seat).
There is a lot to report...food, family, and snow!
First the food...we have been on a cooking streak the last few weeks:
We got a great cookbook from Derek's Aunt Diane and Uncle Kent and tried the meatball stroganoff
Continuing on my pumpkin addiction over the holidays, I made a pumpkin cheesecake with cream cheese frosting. I really liked it but will need to do a little work on the crust next time.
Next up was pot roast. We found the recipe online, and it was awesome -- plenty of leftovers for work.
We hit the jackpot and found these seasonal Edy's Ice Cream -- they have pumpkin, egg nog, and peppermint. We tried the Egg Nog -- definitely worth getting again (but certainly not up to Blue Bell standard).
Last weekend, we made our homemade chili. It is Cincinnati-style chili, with jalepenos added for some heat.
This week we made some spinach mozzarella quesadillas with asparagus and then taco-filled pasta shells.
On the family front, we headed up to North Dakota for Thanksgiving with the Prossers. I was introduced to some Norewegian traditions -- potato sausage and lefse. I think I ate more food in the three days we were there than I had all year -- it was all so good!
We ventured into Grand Forks a few times and Derek gave me the official tour of UND - Home of the Fighting Sioux. We saw his old dorm and house and then headed to the UND bookstore to pick up some Sioux gear and then over to the Ralph Engelstad, where UND plays hockey.
We got some good hang out time in with our niece, Kaylee. We celebrated Christmas while we were there, and headed home with a lot of goodies!
We headed home and decorated for Christmas (our first year to be able to put lights outside)...in the snow! We had about 3 inches of snow last Saturday, and it was beautiful.
This weekend, we celebrated Christmas with Kirk. Kirk hooked Derek up with some cool UConn gear and me with Cowboys stuff. Kirk got a new sand wedge. We had egg nog and a great dinner (Santa even brought everyone their favorite candy).
Oh, and last but not least, my mom and dad got us the coolest anniversary gift -- they framed our wedding program next to the speech that my dad gave -- coolest present ever.
Poll:
What was your favorite Christmas present?
This is a tough one -- I think mine was the U2 Achtung Baby tape that Robert gave me in 5th or 6th grade-- I listened to "Mysterious Ways" approximately 1 million times.
This is easy.
ReplyDeleteFirst Place: My Flexible Flyer Sled......there is no second.
All apologies to others that have ever given me a gift.....but The Big Guy, The "Connection", Jolly Ole' St. Nick, Chris Cringle......S-A-N-T-A seriously hooked me up the year he left the 54" red bolt of lightning at Larkspur Ln. in Prospect, KY. I'm pretty sure Tom and I travelled roughly as fast as the atomic super collider weaving downhill thru the snowy Kentucky forests and we destroyed Mom's good candles rubbing wax on the steel runners to make that sled eek out an extra few mph. Every child should experience a school-cancelled snowy day sledding until you are so wet and tired you have to crawl home!!!! Tom still has scars to prove the time I bailed off the slide just before it crashed into a pile of snow covered leaves.....or so we thought.......it was actually a snow covered pile of leaves.....on top of a big pile of BRICKS!!!! OUCH!
Hard to nail down one great present. Here is my list:
ReplyDeleteAtari
Merlin - early hand held electronic game (pre Mary)
A stick for beating Nick
Cincinnati Bengals jacket